Visiting Galien River County Park

After the last several weeks of hard cranking on my thesis, and five more to go, I decided today that I needed a much-deserved 'mental health break' - i.e., take a walk out in nature! It was a beautiful day, I grabbed one of my friends from church, and we headed on out to Galien River County Park. I had never been before; but had heard good things.

The place certainly did not disappoint!! Free admission (always nice) - really new and nicely kept up. Great trails in the woods, and boardwalks that went onto the river. One went down at river, and the other rose to the canopy as to provide a bird's-eye-view. Even in the middle of the afternoon, the birdlife was quite present, and I can only imagine what it must be like in early morning! I saw several Canada geese, red-winged blackbirds, and even a couple barn swallows. I also found several nice wildflowers!

All in all, a really, really nice little park that would be well worth a repeat visit. I'm really happy I came, and here are some of my favorite photos to share with you! :)

 Looking back...and looking around at the overlook! It was tall!

 If you look closely, you might be able to find a red-winged blackbird! I didn't have my telephoto lens with me, so this was the best that I could do!

On the trail back to the car, we found many beautiful wildflowers.

 Common blue violet, Viola sororia.

 Something in the Geranium family...

 Yellow anemone, Anemone ranunculoides.

 I haven't figured out what these two flowers are yet! I hope to do so soon!

Well, that's about it! Hope you enjoyed my post! :)

~Austin